Yahoo recently replaced Google as the default search provider for Firefox in the U.S.

In November, Yahoo and Mozilla reached an understanding to make Yahoo Search the default search provider for the latter’s Firefox browser in the United States and the results are already out there for all to see. According to the latest U.S. search data from web analytics provider Statcounter, December saw Bing-powered Yahoo Search finish with 10.4 percent share of the U.S. search market, a significant increase from the 8.4 percent share it held at the start of the month.

Conflicting data makes it difficult to gauge the browser landscape.

Depending on which data collection service you trust the most, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is either wiping the floor with Google's Chrome browser, or getting spanked by the relative newcomer. Starting with the former, NetMarketShare has IE way out in the lead with a 55.81 percent share of the desktop browser market, virtually unchanged from last month and up a little more than a percentage point from a year ago.

Another month is in the books, and that means another thirty-some days of browser share data to crunch and analyze. One of the problems with doing that, however is that different stat trackers report conflicting numbers. Net Applications(NetMarketShare), for example, shows Chrome closing out the summer in third place, sitting behind Firefox (second) and Internet Explorer (first) as the most used browsers on the planet. But if you head over to StatCounter, Chrome is out in front.

Let's face it, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform isn't going to propel itself to the front of the pack, just like the Colorado Rockies aren't going to rally and win their division in the National League. In both cases, it's mathematically possible, but so is playing roulette and watching the ball land on 00 three times in a row. Be that as it may, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is making personal strides, with the month of July marking its biggest growth month so far this year.

Windows 8 is almost here but Windows 7 is nevertheless just starting to hits its stride, nearly three years after its launch. According to StatCounter, Microsoft's flagship operating system snatched the "Most Used O.S" crown from Windows XP sometime in September 2011, but last month, Windows 7 cracked an even more monumental plateau: it now owns over 50 percent of the total O.S. market.

Google's Chrome team has reason to break out the bottles of champagne and fling corks through the office, something Dwight Schrute would never approve of. Why the celebration? Well, according to StatCounter, Chrome managed to unseat Internet Explorer to become the world's most used browser for the first time for a full calendar month in May. But if that's the case, why are corks flying in Microsoft's office as well?

Well, here's something we didn't think we'd be saying yet: by one group's numbers, Google Chrome just passed Internet Explorer as the most popular web browser in the world. The difference is only a fraction of a single percentage point, but nevertheless, the king has fallen in ridiculously short order -- Chrome passed Firefox for the second-place spot less than six months ago.

Mozilla Firefox is still the world’s second most popular desktop browser ahead of Google Chrome, as per Net Applications. But as far as Mozilla is concerned, that’s probably the only positive to have come out of the analytics firm’s latest monthly browser usage data.

There are more people surfing the Web with various builds of Internet Explorer at this moment than there are for any other browser, which has been the case ever since Microsoft buried Netscape Navigator a long time ago. But if you want to talk about the world's most popular single browser build, that title now belongs to Google's Chrome 15, according StatCounter, a website analytics company.

At the rate things were going, it was only a matter of time before Google's Chrome browser skipped ahead of Mozilla Firefox, and according to at least one Web analytics company, it's finally happened. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's paid attention to the browser market. Chrome has been gaining ground ever since it was released, while Firefox long appeared to plateau, and even fall back a step a time or two.